Ripple Discovery Would Chill All Agency Debate, SEC Says (1)

Orders requiring the SEC to turn over internal documents related to a 2018 speech on digital assets aren’t just wrong on the law, they are likely to have a chilling effect on policy deliberations throughout the federal government, the agency says.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is fighting to keep Ripple Labs Inc. from getting documents related to the speech by William Hinman, then the Director of the Division of Corporation Finance.

Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn rejected the agency’s objections based on relevance and the deliberative process privilege in a series of discovery orders this spring. The latest order, dated ...